Phobic
by Candy Maiden
Summary: A woman hindered with OCD must deal with her little sister, her shop, ninjas looking to kill her, arson, and the Kazekage. Not in that order, mind you. Gaara/OC, how surprising.
1. Phobia

All that could be seen from the tiny window in the carriage was the burning coastline and the crescent moon. They were far away enough now so that not even the loudest screams could be heard, much less the excruciating drowned out versions they had heard for what seemed an eternity. The small child leapt down from the window, gripping her sleeping toddler sister close to her. The older one brushed her light coral-blonde hair from her eyes, knowing this was going to be a long journey to a place she had no desire to go to.

* * *

The young teenager stared blankly at the man in front of her, chewing her out. She was sure the old man would've made it physical had there not been a counter blocking them, nor the Kazekage Tower down the street. Her bland and shallow purple eyes flickered between the scene before her and the oven in the room a few feet away. She prayed the buzzer would go off soon so she could scurry and get away from this argument.

"Umiko! Are you even listening? You know my wife and I hate that sweet smell in our house! I'll close this place down if I have to!" He was near screaming, face red and all. She continued her blank stare, until she realized he was waiting for a reply. She straightened herself up from her leaning stance on the counter, brushing off her yellow cream-colored apron three times. "No, Sir, I was not listening. You come in every week to yell at me and threaten me. Do you not have anything better to do?" She asked, trying to be polite and glancing into the kitchen every few seconds. 6 to be exact.

The old man made some sort of primal noise, and left as fast as he could, fuming. Umiko sighed; this was a regular scene and she hated having to explain herself to questioning customers. She just shook her head and wandered into the kitchen, waiting impatiently in front of the oven. It only had 35 seconds left, but that wasn't a good number in Umiko's mind. She quickly turned the dial to 36 seconds, and set it back down. It was just one of her many strange habits. She turned as she heard light footsteps coming into the kitchen.

"How much more did you turn it up by?" the pre-teen asked the older girl. "Only by a second. 35 is just such a bad and unlucky number. I really wish you'd understand, Hitodeka. Eve-" she was cut off by a growl from the kid. Umiko knew she picked up from the growls and snarls from the old man who frequented the shop, and she hated it. "My name is Masa-chan. It's not Hitodeka. I hate it!" The younger girl said. Umiko just nodded. "I like it. I wish I was a starfish. But I guess Umiko is okay, Masa. You're still my sister."

The buzzer went off and Umiko turned it off, listening to the protests from her younger sister of how Hitodeka was too long, and how it was Masa-chan and not 'just Masa'. Umiko pulled out the cookies and other confections placing them on cooling racks in a specific manner. She put in the next trays, as if it was a routine. "That's creepy. I just remembered why I never come in here anymore when you do anything." Masa said, quickly walking out of the kitchen.

Umiko sighed and after finishing up in the kitchen, tended to the tables in the shop. It was a teahouse and sweets shop, which coincidently had the only mochi and mango tea in the entire village. Umiko never understood this; mangoes were her favorite things, and everyone at her old village loved them. Apparently, so did a lot of the villagers here, too. Umiko returned to her spot behind the counter, her sister next to her, restocking the various things behind the glass. "How was the graduation exam, Masa?" Umiko asked, noticing the exasperated expression on her sister's face. Masa stopped for a moment, looking up at her sister, before returning to her restocking job. "It's Masa-chan." She hesitated for a moment before speaking again. "How would you feel if I said I didn't pass?" she asked her big sister, brushing a few stray strands of her also coral-blonde hair back into it's flared bobbed-style. Umiko thought for a moment before leaning forward to rest her elbows on the counter as she usually did.

"Well, I don't really know. I hope you passed and all… but if you didn't, I guess that'd be okay. Just do better next time. I know you're strong, Hito- Masa-chan." She smiled, looking at her little sister. She always noticed the difference in build between them; Masa was a small and lithe, almost compact, girl. Umiko, on the other hand, was short as well, but curvier and _chunkier_. She didn't like that. "What're you staring at? You always give me that look, Umiko. And you don't have to worry, I passed. I would never fail!" She huffed at her sister before returning to restocking once again. Umiko smiled and hugged her little sister tightly, causing her to drop the bracelets she was restocking. "You shouldn't be so haughty, but I'm proud that you passed, Masa-chan!" Umiko said a little too loud, as some of the customers got up and congratulated her as well, buying some of the merchandise too.

It quieted down after awhile, and their last few customers trickled in, as it was almost nighttime, and soon it'd be too cold to venture out, even though it was late March already. As the last few customers paid and left, the cleaning up process began. Umiko liked things meticulous and in a specific fashion that her sister had become accustomed to (begrudgingly) long ago. This was the time they talked to each other the most; Umiko tended the shop all day, and Masa had Academy to go to. "So who were the examiners? What'd you have to do?" Umiko questioned, wiping down the tables.

"The Kazekage and Ura-sensei were there. I was kinda surprised… I thought Ura-sensei was kidding when he said my class was the best in a long time. And we had to do this weird written test in the classroom, and they called us one by one into the actual examination room. We had to make two clones of 'satisfactory quality'." Umiko nodded with what she said. "Only two examiners? What'd they say? Did the Kazekage say anything to you?" She probed further, genuinely interested. "Oh, you won't believe it. The Kazekage loved me so much, he got down on one knee and proposed to me, right there." She scoffed, knowing how much pressure was put on their leader to get a wife, which was ridiculous. It's all any of the girls in the village could talk about, it seemed to Masa. "That's nice. But aren't you a bit too young? Even back at Hama Village, I wouldn't have been wed off until I was 14 or older."

Masa laughed at her sister's obliviousness, her smile fading as she realized her sister thought she was serious. "I was kidding, Umiko. He said I had a lot of potential to be a great ninja. But that's generic, so it's nothing special. He looked really tired, though." She said, wiping down the counter. Umiko stopped for a moment, before returning to wiping down the last table. "Oh." The beat it took for her to answer left an awkward silence among the room. "You need to really see someone. You're too engrossed in cleaning half the time you don't even recognize what I say. It's annoying." Masa told her, grabbing the broom to start sweeping the floors.

"I don't need to see anyone. My OCD is under control. It's not a psychosis or anything like you think." Umiko defended herself, walking into the kitchen to start on cleaning the appliances. Every single night, she did this, and was rather unnecessary in Masa's eyes. "Unlike you, I don't 'think' anything. I know for sure. That's another problem with you. I know I want to go home, but I know that you're unsure, and you'll be lonely if I leave. I have no idea what you'll do if I leave, but I know that you'll do something dramatic." She emphasized the word 'know' each time. "I don't want to start this argument again. You can go home when you want to, but you knew as soon as you put on the

Sunagakure headband- wait, where's your headband?" Umiko asked, looking at her sister who was cleaning the floor of the kitchen.

"It's in my bag upstairs. I don't need to wear it 'till Monday, when we meet our senseis." She answered, putting the broom up and starting on the dishes. Umiko nodded at this answer. "Are you already finished cleaning the floors? That was fast, don't you think?" Umiko asked, a hint of a frantic tone lacing her voice. She heard Masa growl and nearly scream, throwing down a dish, watching it break into hundreds of little shards on the floor. "It doesn't matter how I do it, it never lives up to your standards, goddamnit! I'm tired of it, and I'm tired of you!" She yelled at her older sister, running out of the kitchen and up the stairs. Umiko stood there for a minute until she heard a door slam shut. She jumped at the loud noise, hurrying over to the mess and cleaning it up. It took her another two hours to finish everything else correctly before going to sleep. It was a normal sleep for her; plagued with nightmares of worm-infestations, horrible storms, and floods.

* * *

The next day, Umiko was ready to be ignored by her sister. Umiko knew Masa was in a problematic time in her life, and didn't really like the village they were in. And Umiko's OCD was a big concern with her sister. Umiko set upon the task of making breakfast and lunch for her sister; she only got to eat breakfast with her sister usually. The rest of the time, Masa ate with friends. She found the way Umiko prepared her favorite foods to be too weird.

Umiko set down the two plates and sat down, picking lightly at it. She wasn't hungry. She looked up as she saw Masa walk out of her room, dressed ready to leave. She sat down across from her sister, beginning on her food, just a bit too quickly and haphazardly for her older sister. "You really should slow down." "I don't care. I'm sorry I don't need to care about the most mundane shit in the world so I don't become some emotional wreck." Umiko winced as she was mocked; she hated ridicule. "Did any letters come from Hama? I want you to send this letter to Mom and Dad. They'll be happy to know they can be proud of one of their daughters." With that being said, she dropped the envelope into her sisters lap, grabbing her bag. "They're just as proud of me as they are of you and Kaichi!" Umiko retorted, picking up the envelope and going outside onto the balcony.

"Oh really? I wouldn't be proud of some OCD-ridden scaredy cat. Kaichi is a hero. One day, I'll return to the village, and I'll kill the bastard that made me leave anyway." She told her sister, growling a bit. It was a habit of hers when she became angry. "They don't even know about my OCD! And stop cursing, you're only 12. You shouldn't talk like that." The messenger hawk came took the envelope away, and Umiko returned inside, shutting the door behind her, only to be met with her little sisters stunned face.

"They don't know? You told me they did! I can't believe this… you're some sort of lying bitch!" Masa snarled at her sister before running down the stairs, and out of the dual shop-house. Umiko just sighed; why was everything such a big deal for her sister? She ran a hand through her long but thin hair. She went to her room to get dressed for the day; a plain light purple dress with long sleeves that matched her eyes. She pulled on and tied her apron, and put on her dark sandals. As she brushed her hair 50 times exactly, she looked at the mirror; tanned brown skin, unlike the pasty villagers of Suna. Why they were like that was beyond her. Her short stature made her stick out even more, considering many people in Suna were tall and relatively lanky. She shook her head, setting her brush down perfectly in conjunction with all the other items on her vanity. She pulled her dress down a bit so it reached a little bit past her knees, and rolled her sleeves up to her elbow as normal.

She headed downstairs, starting the kettles and making a fresh batch of star cookies and took some yogurt out of the fridge in the kitchen. She was not liking this whole 'alone-in-the-shop' ordeal she was faced with almost everyday now. She was terrified of isolation. She took 75 of the small star cookies, putting different flavored yogurt on them. She took one of her prettier gift bags, wrapping the stars in a small red cloth, and placing them in the small bag. It was to be a gift for the Kazekage; she didn't figure that out until she was almost done coating the stars. She had just kind of automatically come downstairs and made the stars. They were a favorite among her sisters friend, so she gave some to Masa every morning to share. She left early this morning, and Umiko wouldn't be surprised if she didn't show up until late that night, if at all. She wrote out a quick, but refined, letter thanking the Kazekage, stuffing it into the bag.

Umiko set the kettles on the counter off the burners, and turned off the stovetop. She checked the shop, knowing it was still too early for people to come in just yet. She rushed out onto the sparsely populated main street of the village, heading to the Kazekage Tower. She walked into the Tower; many ninja were there. She wasn't used to ninjas that weren't on a break and in her shop. She walked up to the receptionist, not knowing where to go. It was a bit intimidating, this change of scenery. "Um, excuse me, Ryoka…?" She tried to get the attention of the young woman (who just so happened to drop by occasionally at her shop) at the desk. She looked and smiled, asking what business she had there. "I have a gift for a Kazekage, just a treat for him. It's thanks for him not being hard on my sister, I guess." She pondered exactly just what it was herself.

The receptionist recognized who the woman in front of her was after a moment of staring at her for her awkward talking; she was the owner the shop just down the street. "Oh, Umiko, I didn't realize it was you. I'm used to seeing your sister. You know what, I think the Kazekage is actually in his office right now, I think you can just head up and give it to him if he's in there. If he's not, just give it to me and I'll make sure he gets it." She smiled at Umiko, receiving one in return. "Thank you, Ryoka." She gave a light bow before heading up the stairs to the left.

She was a little freaked out from the ninjas on guard at the bottom of the stairs who gave her a cold stare. It seemed like everybody was a ninja. She recognized one, and gave a slight smile before heading up the stairs. She didn't particularly like stairs, but these weren't too steep or closed in for her. She still made it slowly and surely up though, as the fear of falling and hurting herself was too great. She made sure to stay a certain margin to the right, and moved her hand up the railing on every other step she took. She finally reached the top and head down the hallway and stopped on the first door she saw. She turned and faced it, and knocked on it; she touched the plaque that read 'Kazekage' and rubbed a smudge off of it. A soft 'come in' was heard. She realized she was trembling at the thought of meeting a new person as she reached for the door knob.

She gulped down the lump in her throat, and turned the knob slowly and exactly 90 degrees to the right, opening the door in an also exact fashion. She didn't want to stumble and fix any of her mistakes to fit her needs in front of the _Kazekage_. It was bad enough in front of normal people who thought she was strange. She tried to keep those thoughts out of her head as she walked forward to stand in front of the desk. All she saw was bright red hair; his head was down as he signed some paper. She set the bag down in front of him on the desk. He finished his signature on whatever document he had, and looked up.

Her own light purple eyes met with his blue ones. She recognized the color as the sea from her home village when the light hit it just right in late spring. She studied the contours and features of his face in an almost creepy habitual fashion; eyes, nose, mouth, ears, jaw line. She noted a particularly strong jaw line that she liked. She realized she was staring and it was rude, so her eyes darted to the bag, and she smiled.

"I'm Umiko Toiniji, my little sister Hitodeka became a genin yesterday. I felt it was right to give a gift of sorts to you, as thanks. She's a little hotheaded and I'm sure she gave some sort of opposition yesterday. I run a shop down the street, so I made you something. I hope you enjoy them." She gave a bow and turned to leave as he nodded. She wasn't expecting any say of thanks or really anything else. She shut the door behind her, and made her way back to her shop.

* * *

**A/N: Man, that was long. Well, not much to say… any criticisms are appreciated. Sorry for the weird formatting, I didn't realize until it was too late that single line breaks in MSOWord do not show up in published stories. Oops.**


	2. Bathmophobia

It was a particularly lazy Saturday, which almost seemed like an oxymoron. Not many customers came in that day and not many people were outside. Umiko was concerned with this, and when one of her regulars came in, she called to him.

"Hey, Tai, did something happen around here? There aren't many people out on the streets." She asked him, turning around to get his regular order from the counters behind her. "Don't you know? There's some sort of really bad sandstorm coming in. I saw Hitodeka and told her she should head home, but she just gave me some weird noise." He laughed as he was handed his 3 strawberry mochi and mint tea. Umiko was a bit worried over the coming storm, but her sister couldn't be that stupid?

The rest of the day was spent with Umiko's worrying becoming worse and worse; she fretted over storms anyway, but her sister was her top priority. Hitodeka always had been, but Hitodeka never realized it.

It was nearing sundown, and yet no sign of her sister. Umiko sighed, and closed the shop early to go look for her sister. She headed to the usual spots, hating the long trek around the village. After two hours of searching, and with the winds picking up, the dust and sand scattered everywhere. Umiko could stand the sand but dirt was… well, dirty. She was exhausted as she came upon the steep stairs that led up to the alcove in the wall surrounding the village; Masa came here just to spite her older sister.

"Hitodeka!" She called up. She saw two shadows move, recognizing one as her sister, and the other was unknown to her. She waited a moment before realizing her sister wasn't 'Hitodeka' anymore. She shook her head, annoyed as all hell. "Masa-chan?" She tried; she reminded herself to keep calm. It was the only way to deal with an angsty teenager who was in their pseudo-rebellious phase.

"If you want me, you know you'll have to come up here." She heard back. "And you know that I won't. Please, just come down; there's a storm coming and it's supposed to be really bad. I'll do anything, just please come down." She was almost begging as the sun was setting more and more. She hated the cold, and hated the darkness even more.

"Oh yeah, I forgot you're bathmophobic. It's a joke. No one can really be scared of _steep stairs._" Masa mocked her older sister, looking over the edge to see her sister. "You'll have to come up." She yelled down, smirking before returning to sitting on the opposite edge by the mystery person. "That was rather rude." Masa heard, looking over at the person, just shrugging their comment off.

Umiko stood there, deciding to either try to get up there or not. She took a small step towards the stairs, and she realized what her decision was when her breath hitched. Another small step and she reached forward to get a grip on the railing. Her hand slid off, her palms sweaty from fear. She stood wobbling on the first step, long hair blowing in the breeze. She gripped the railing to the right of her as if her life depended on it; she trusted the right railing far more than the left one. "Are you sure you don't want to come down?" Umiko shouted, her eyes shut tight as she made it up to the second step. Her head was facing downward to stare at her feet. She heard a quick laugh and a 'yes' yelled right back at her. She made it up one more step. By the sixth one a minute later, tears were flowing from her eyes. She didn't want to do this; she wasn't thinking straight.

The thoughts of her falling, her death, and all her nightmares centered on this particular fear were fresh in her mind and making her more and more frightened. She wanted to break down and just sob, but her body kept moving her higher and higher. "Please, just come down!" She choked out, voice cracked and all. Her sister Masa had a smug look on her face. "You have to get me, and then I will." She said back, turning to look at the person accompanying her as they stood up. "You need to go down there." Masa quickly jumped up defensively. "Never! This is good for her; she needs to not be so scared of such stupid things. She won't even give me the reasons." She scoffed, and turned to watch the ending of the sunset.

Umiko had, unbeknownst to her, almost made it halfway before her hands slipped off the railing. She couldn't properly balance herself on such small steeps, and fell backwards. She screamed as she tumbled down, the sick sound of her hitting the metal at a quick pace was ringing through her sister's ears. Masa quickly peered over the edge next to the other person, only to see a crumpled heap of a person at the bottom. She rushed down the stairs first as the other followed her. "U-Umiko?" She tried to get a response, but all she got was a whimper as she got to the bottom.

Masa turned Umiko over from her side to on her back, earning a yelp of pain from her. She had never heard of the phrase 'stabilize C spine'. Tears welled in her eyes.

She looked up at the Kazekage who had found her at the alcove and tried to get her to return home; a tear slipped down her cheek. "What do I do?" she asked, not knowing what else to say or ask. He sighed and grabbed one of Umiko's arms, placing it around his neck. Masa got the hint and took the other, but as they helped Umiko to her feet she screamed in pain. Masa's eyes flickered with fear. "C-can you walk, Umiko?" She stuttered in her hasty speech, looking at the swelling on one of her sister's ankles and one of her calves.

Umiko lazily shook her head, as if she didn't have the energy to do so. Tears were running down Masa's face guiltily. Gaara picked the girl up and started walking to the hospital nearby; this was one of the few times he was glad he commanded a relatively small village. Masa followed dutifully behind him, trying to get her tears to stop. "Is she going to die? Because of me?" Her irrationality that seemed to run in the family kicked in. Gaara looked back at her, his face as incredulous as it could get. Not much, mind you, but he was still working on the whole 'emotion' thing. "No." He simply gave, which gave almost no relief to Masa.

The winds started to pick up, and the howling from the desert pushed everybody still out to move faster to safety.

* * *

It was an early Sunday morning, no later than 8 am. Umiko kept her eyes half-shut as she was staring directly into the window letting the light in. She felt an intense pain in her ribcage as she took a deep breath in, making her moan in pain. She heard a chair fall, as if someone got out of it so quickly it just got knocked over. Umiko tried to move her neck and look to the other side, but she found it hurt too much. She finally turned over, to be met with her younger sisters violet eyes. Her own eyes opened wide, and she scooted back a bit in the bed. "I'm so sorry!" Masa said loudly, sounding like she had screamed it straight into Umiko's ears. Umiko groaned loudly before turning onto her side. She tried to center herself as best as she could, smoothing the wrinkles out of her bed sheets so it could be symmetrical. Her obsessions came before her own wellbeing sometimes.

"What happened?" Umiko's small voice came. She wasn't loud or outspoken like the rest of her family.

"I'm so sorry! 'msosorry!" She said hurriedly, earning a confused look from her sister. Umiko just nodded, feeling very lucid.

"Were you okay from the storm?" she slurred her words, and she felt like her statement didn't make any sense. Was she on pain medication? It was at that point she realized she had a splint on her forearm, and a type of soft wrapping around her right calf and right ankle. She couldn't freak out, nor did she really feel like it.

"Yes, she stayed here the entire night with you." She jumped at the sudden deep voice in the room; was there someone else there? A doctor? She would've recognized a family member's voice, and it was unlikely they rushed within a few hours to the other side of the country. She lifted herself to sit up, wincing from the pain. Her eyes opened wide and her face got considerably warmer. "Lord Kazekage… why are you here?" She asked, looking to her sister and back. "He tried to get me to go home, 'cause of the storm, but I didn't want to go back, so he stayed and we were talking, and then you came, and, and…" She was talking so fast, she lost track of what she was saying. Umiko was about to say something, but a knock on the door to her room stopped her. It was a ninja that had come for Gaara; some important matter he must attend to urgently. Umiko gave a quick thanks and watched him leave.

Umiko and Masa continued to talk for a few minutes until it fell silent. "I told the doctors you were sick. Like, in the head. They said they're gonna give you some psychological exam. I think they think you tried to kill yourself, but I told them that's wrong… but they told me something interesting." Umiko looked at her little sister, unsure of what that could mean. "You didn't come to the village on your own. They have records from when you were 10! So please, explain to me, why you told me you ran away from our 'wartorn home' because if you've been lying to me about all of that…" she trailed off, a sharp look in her eye. Umiko was about to avoid explanation as soon as they heard another loud knock on the door.

The doctor came in, and after doing a general look over, picked up her arm to look at it closer. He moved it in different ways, gauging the reaction from Umiko. He continued to do that with both of her legs as well. He said nothing, just giving small 'hms' here and there.

"They don't look that bad, but the swelling might stay awhile. Your sister told us you have a few phobias and other problems. She sounds pretty worried, so why don't you make use of your time here, and maybe get some help? What's wrong?" He was patronizing her, and she knew it; her sister blew things out of proportion to make her seem like a lunatic. She decided to humor him.

"In alphabetical order? Antlophobia, aphenphosmphobia, apiphobia, asymmetriphobia, ataxophobia, automysophobia, bathmophobia, blennophobia, bromidrosiphobia, claustrophobia, cleisiophobia, dinophobia, helminthophobia, herpetophobia, illyngophobia, isolophobia, koniophobia, lilapsophobia, ombrophobia, osmophobia, polyphobia, scoleciphobia, and zemmiphobia. I'm a compulsive cleaner, and everything. Must. Be. Done. Correctly. I have a system for everything I do, everyday."

* * *

**A/N: Yes, kind of a cheap thing to just list her phobias in the open. But they'll all be defined in the story, so don't worry. And no, she will not get over all of them. **


	3. Cleisiophobia

Umiko was still giggling over how angry her sister looked because of what had transpired a few hours earlier. "Get over it, I'm fine. I'm sane." She smiled, patting her sister's head. "No you're not." Masa grumbled, picking her head up. Umiko shook her head, still smiling as she recounted the earlier events.

The doctor had called in two other doctors, who were supposedly better with diagnostics and psychological issues. They didn't help much, considering Umiko admitted she had OCD and didn't need a second opinion. She had gotten one a long time ago just for confirmation. She still didn't want or feel that she needed therapy.

The two doctors that got called in seemed to be already angry with her attending one, which just made it all the better to see him get chewed out. The diagnostic specialist left first, considering Umiko already had a confirmation. After a short psychological examination declaring she was stable, but really should seek therapy for her phobias, the psych specialist marked Umiko's board for discharge the next day. The older female psych specialist grabbed her attending by the ear and dragged him out.

The look on Masa's face made Umiko burst out laughing, something she hadn't done in a long time. With all the old people yelling at her, her sister's attitude, and her phobias, not much humor snaked its way into her life. Nor did love or romance; but she wasn't very interested in that, considering she had to take care of her little sister.

"Hey, Umiko, you still gotta explain to me about the whole lie thing. I wanna know if I can go back home!" Masa whined, sitting on the edge of her bed. Masa still hadn't left, and refused to leave. Umiko was lucky Masa hadn't started to smell bad, but she was fidgeting under the covers of how dirty she herself was.

"It's not a lie, Masa. I never told you we ran away in the way you see it- our parents made us get up and move to a more peaceful place. Kaichi was stationed here, and he stayed with us until the war was over, when I was 14, and you were 6. I never held you from going back, it was Mom and Dad. They didn't want either of us until it was more stable in Hama. It is now, but do you really want to leave, Masa? It's such a small village in the process of rebuilding… it's not as great as it once was." Umiko explained, winding herself out.

Masa looked down for a few moments, unsure of what to say. "…When can I see them again? Mom, Dad, and Kaichi, I mean." Umiko thought for a second, and then yawned. "I don't know. Kaichi's always busy with his ANBU operations, and Mom and Dad are leaders of Hama… who knows when either will ever get a break." She sighed, and lay down. She was too tired to care about the symmetry anymore, but still tried to smooth out any wrinkles and fix anything she could.

* * *

Early Monday morning, the two girls left. Umiko decided not to get crutches, and though a slight pain shot through her ankle and sometimes her calf, she would live through it. She was going to get home, clean up, serve breakfast, and fall back into her daily routine once again. She couldn't wait; she hated being in the hospital.

Masa was excited in her own right as well; she was going to meet her new sensei today, and her teammates! She was shaken out of her daydreaming when Umiko asked her something. "Was I hallucinating when I saw the Kazekage in my room yesterday?" Masa snorted with laughter, and quickly became embarrassed.

"Nah, he really did pick you up and take you all the way to the hospital. He's actually really nice, but kinda creepy about it. Oh yeah, he asked me to let you know he doesn't really like sweets. I thought that was kinda odd, but hey, he's our Lord." Umiko nodded, her face getting hotter again. She heard his voice ring through her head, and she thought she really was crazy.

"I gave him some yogurt stars as a gift… I guess he didn't like them." Masa laughed, "Obviously! But, why'd you give him a gift anyway? Wait, I get it! You think that 'cause you're the daughter of some village leaders, you can be considered a 'diplomatic wife', the kinda girl the people are sayin' would be best to marry our Kazekage? Ha, I can see your wedding now… it's really weird… ew!" Both girls laughed and Umiko denied it.

Things returned to normal when they got home, and Umiko started immediately on cleaning herself, and then making breakfast. Everything else would be massively cleaned later; she wasn't going to open shop today, she decided.

She set down the plates on the table as if it were any other day, sitting down when the messenger hawk came strolling through the balcony, landing on the table. Masa came out of her room, fresh and ready to take on the world, to sit down to some real food. "It's a letter from Hama. I guess Mom and Dad aren't all that busy…" Umiko took the letter, gave a bit of her food to the hawk, and watched him fly out to perch on the balcony as usual. "Don't open it now, wait 'till dinner tonight! I'm gonna have the bestest stories to tell when I meet my new team!" Masa told her, quickly finishing her meal to grab her bag and rush out the door, barely leaving any time for Umiko to say goodbye.

* * *

Gaara sat at his desk, taking a break from all his paperwork. It seemed to be all he did lately. Hell, it's all he did _ever_. He stood up, walking over to the window, when he heard his door open. He didn't even have time to bother to look who it was before he heard the obnoxious 'Little brother!' greeting from Kankuro.

Kankuro came right up beside Gaara, ignoring the personal space he liked. "Whatcha doin'? It's kinda creepy if you just look out a window for no reason." Kankuro told him matter-of-factly, looking out the same window. It was the courtyard of the Academy, and only one genin team was there; it was Nagisa's. Gaara wasn't familiar with her, but still looked on with interest.

"Ahh, that Nagisa chick is pretty hot… too bad she got stuck with the weirdest group. That one bratty punk who's into knives, and the only kid this year who's going to be a medic… and that other stupid punk. Always mocking me whenever she sees me… but Nagisa thinks she's hiding something. Whatever, I gotta get going anyway. I'm sure one of the new senseis needs something." He walked away, mumbling to himself.

Gaara continued gazing into the courtyard; he knew the girl in question was from another village. He was the first one to be notified of that at the hospital, rather than the girl herself who thought she was born in Suna. If she was indeed hiding something, was the older girl as well? He didn't want to think so, as both girls had been in the village for 10 years, and the older one was 20. They had practically grown up in Suna.

He sighed, retreating to his desk to do more paperwork, yet again. He chastised himself for thinking they would rebel. But, for some reason, the older girl wouldn't escape his mind.

* * *

"Let's see, my team is pretty much… some fag punk with too much hairspray and piercings, and the other kid is like a leaf shaking in the wind. He's even scared of mole rats! I never really talked to them before when we were in the academy, the fag-" "That's rude. Don't call him that." "Okay, _Jasuchin_, is some outcast. He thinks he's some bad motherf- some bada- some type of guy who's really fu- freaking arrogant." She kept correcting herself so she wouldn't get yelled at again.

"The other kid, I like to call him Chiko, 'cause he looks and acts like a girl. His name is Chi though, but that's kinda girly already. But I know he's nice, a lot of the girls like him 'cause he's sensitive. I don't really like my team… but our sensei, her name is Nagisa, and she's freaking awesome! But she told me I need to not be so selfish and stuff. I have no idea what she's talking about. But she loves mole rats and scorpions and stuff! Just like me! Isn't that so cool?" She talked on and on, earning a shudder from Umiko at the mention of mole rats.

They chattered more and more until dinner was done. Masa asked about Umiko's injuries, and the conversation centered on that for a while. Umiko gave Masa a plate of mango and kiwi mochi, her favorite. Umiko opted not to have any, but sat back down.

Masa took the letter, and opened it, though she didn't garner any interest from her sister. "Is something wrong, Masa?" Umiko asked, concerned, and she skimmed over the letter. It was the generic 'I'm so proud, hope to see you sometime in the future, still rebuilding, etc' crap like every other time. "…Umiko, it's kinda personal, but can we…" she trailed off, not knowing how to ask her sister something so weird.

"Can we what? Did something happen? Do you need something?" She set the letter down, giving her attention to her sister.

"Well, can you… can you buy me a bra? The wrappings and stuff aren't comfortable, and I want a bra. But, like, a ninja bra. That ninjas like Nagisa wear. So I can still do, y'know, ninja things." Masa finally said, flustered. Umiko laughed; something as simple as that? "A ninja bra? I don't think they make those. But yeah, we'll go see Yukie next door tomorrow, if you like."

* * *

"Ninja bras? Yeah, they're with all the other shinobi and kunoichi clothing. If you need any help, just come ask." Yukie smiled, attending to another customer. Umiko shook her head as she and her sister walked to the corresponding area.

There were different colored ones made of so many different materials, it made Umiko wonder why she had never even _seen _this part of the store before. Masa picked up multiple stacks of all different sizes and colors and headed to the back fitting rooms, motioning for her sister to follow.

"Why? You should know how to put these on- look, they don't even have a clasp!" Umiko joked, until she realized her sister was serious. "I'm not going inside one with you, but I'll stay by it. Don't worry." Umiko assured her sister, and Masa drudged to the back.

Umiko stood beside the room, leaning her shoulder against it, hearing the shuffling of clothes next to her. She couldn't, and wasn't, even going to begin to think about actually being inside of the fitting room. She had a problem with small spaces already, but confined in one and _locked _in? Regardless of how easy it is to get out, it still made her feel sick and want to cry. Cleisiophobia was one of her more serious phobias- the ones that could cause her to have a breakdown. She snapped out of her thoughts as she heard a frustrated growl on the other side of the wall.

"Is everything alright, Masa-chan?" Umiko asked, concerned. There was no answer, and Umiko saw a bra be thrown to the ground. She guessed it didn't fit, and resumed her stance. A lot of bras received the same treatment as the first; thrown down in anger because they didn't fit correctly.

After about 20 more minutes with a few choice words from both of the girls to the other, Masa walked out of the room, and handed a short pile of bras, only about 5, to Umiko. "These are the only ones that fit. I'll go put the others back." She sulked back to the kunoichi clothes as Umiko went to go pay for the new clothes. She sighed, and when her sister returned, started on the way to the shop.

"I know you don't want to hear this, Hitodeka, but you're only 12 years old… you won't believe the difference both mentally and physically you'll see in just a year, and even more in two. Don't worry about it, you're just a little late. I was really early, and trust me, it's not fun." Umiko told her sister, hugging her when they got to the shop.

"Is that why you're, like, kinda fatter than me? 'Cause you hit puberty younger than me? No offense, but we're both 168 centimeters, and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna get taller. But you and Nagisa have, like, huge boobs and hips. And I want those. As bad as that sounds, I know." She kind of laughed as she was embarrassed with herself, and a short awkward silence followed. "What do you mean by 'fat'? I'm only 58 kilos!"

* * *

**Note: 168 cm is 5'5". I don't know why, but it seems like all of my characters are this height for some reason. 58 kg is 127 lb, about. Also, I'm guessing a ninja bra is just a sports bra (that's what I had in mind; when I looked it up on the internet, all I found was Sasuke and Neji drawn in bras, a bra with a rubik's cube in place of a clasp, and some strange tanktop and sports bra hybrid that made me laugh for no real reason). Also, yes, drama and ninjas trying to kill everybody is soon to come!**


	4. Ataxophobia

Umiko walked out of the doctor's examining room. She had to return for a follow up visit, and they did x-rays due to her complaining about pain in her arm and leg on the side she fell on, and when it was found they had fractured, she was giving a form of wrapped cast around both limbs.

She asked if she could still clean.

The doctors were humored by Umiko's actions and she was left to return home later that day, albeit with a wrapped ankle and calf, cast on her arm, and a referral to psychiatric services she refused to attend.

She hadn't opened shop since the day the sandstorm hit, and she also had not gone into the downstairs kitchen yet.

* * *

Umiko screamed in response to the sight before her; her dirty dishes were piled up, dust was beginning to settle in the open areas and the pots and pans were a mess on the ground. Some strange substances were caking on the dirty dishes, creating a foul odor. The hawk and some random pigeon were squawking and fighting each other in the kitchen, knocking everything in their way to the floor. She kept screaming until the birds stopped; the hawk going in for the kill and biting at the pigeon's neck. Umiko began to hyperventilate as the bird blood splattered on her counters and dripped to the floor as the hawk carried it out the window broken by the sandstorm the previous day.

It wasn't a lot of blood, but the fact it smelled horrible along with everything else made Umiko almost faint. She had no idea how this happened, but just stared incredulously at the scene. She felt dirty just looking at the scene! She threw up everything she had in her stomach upon recognizing that feeling; she dreaded days like this. She quickly ran upstairs, rinsing out her mouth and brushing her teeth, and found what she needed: her thick rubber gloves and a surgical mask, and all her heavier cleaning supplies.

By the time Masa arrived home, she noticed that everything was sparkly clean. She knew the table room had already been spotless yesterday, but if everything was this sparkling clean, Umiko had broke out her heavy-duty cleaners. Masa gasped and ran to the kitchen where she heard a noise; she knew her sister constantly forgot about airing out and left windows closed to prevent further contaminants enter whatever room she was cleaning.

Masa slowly walked into the kitchen as she saw a figure hunched over on the ground, rubbing the floor with a rag in 2 circles to the right, 2 to the left, and repeat. She could hear the heavy breaths from her sister's signature hyperventilation. "Umi… Umiko? Are you alright?" Masa seemed to have lost all her breath as she watched her fanatical sister. She looked around and noted how everything in this room was even neater than usual, and Umiko absolutely loved to clean the kitchen to perfection, so this was rare. Masa heard a strange response from Umiko; it was a sort of breathless reply, like a 'yes', but it was as if she was so focused she couldn't even pronounce _that._

Masa always got scared when her sister behaved this way. This was when Masa thought she was at her worst, and certifiably insane. But Masa kept her mouth shut this time, and walked closer to her sister. She placed her hand on her shoulder, shaking her into reality. "Wha…?" Umiko responded, still cleaning. "Hey… um, it's almost sunset. I think you should stop cleaning now. It's spotless. You could hurt your arm, again, too." Masa nodded in agreement with herself, reassuring her.

"NO! THERE. IS. ONE. SPOT." She screamed out, rubbing even harder on the stain. Masa looked close at the smudge, noticing it was reddish brown. It was closer to the pots and pans racks than the dishwashers, so she assumed it wasn't food. "Is that… blood?" She asked, not thinking of anything else. It seemed combat was constantly on her mind.

"It's fucking pigeon blood!" Umiko yelled, finally getting the last remnants of it off her kitchen floor. Masa gave a confused look to Umiko, who had started packing up her cleaning supplies. "Why is there- you know what, I don't want to know. Why're you wearing a doctor's mask? And why is it you get to cuss, but I don't?" Masa questioned, seeing her sisters face in the light finally. Umiko shrugged at both the questions, untying her mask and folding it neatly before throwing it away. She put her gloves in the box with her heavy cleaners, taking them back upstairs to their shrine.

"Are you still gonna cook dinner? 'Cause I gots loads of stories to tell you! You wouldn't believe how totally awesome Nagisa is!"

* * *

Wednesdays were usually uneventful days for just about everyone, and that included the Toiniji sisters. The shop was reopened, and the regular customers all came by and expressed how they felt about what had happened to Umiko. By 3 pm, everybody that had come by seemed to comment on her injuries. She just thanked everybody and got on with her day; she didn't know just how little energy she had until she considered closing early to get some rest. She was going to let the last few people stay, and once they left, she'd close early.

She groaned inwardly when she saw two people come into her shop; she wanted to do nothing more than to shoo them out, close the large sliding tatami doors, and go upstairs to lie down. As Umiko came into the seating area from the kitchen, she gasped.

Giving a quick bow to her two guests, Temari simply waved it off and chuckled, "You really don't have to do that, Umiko, I come by here all the time."

Umiko flushed from embarrassment as she walked with Temari and her brother, the freaking _Kazekage_, sat themselves. Umiko thought of how if Hitodeka was there, she would have something along the lines of 'I was bowing to the Kazekage, not you, you cu-' and Umiko quickly stopped right there. Hitodeka had a dirty mouth.

"Uhm, I never got to properly thank you for what you did two days ago, but thank you. I'm so sorry for Hitodeka and the way she acts, but she really does want to become a good ninja. She's just having some issues… oh no, I'm rambling, I'm so sorry…" Umiko stumbled over her words, being a bit quieter than she had hoped to be. She was met with the blank stare of her leader and silence as well. Temari laughed awkwardly, mentally scolding Gaara.

"Um, so what would you two like?" Umiko quickly got their orders and did not speak to them except for the idle chat Temari made with her. Umiko swore she didn't even hear the Kazekage say one word the entire time. When they left, she breathed a sigh of relief; she quickly scurried to close shop and begin her cleaning process again, this time with ferocity over her anger.

Umiko didn't know why she was angry; maybe it's because she looked at the Kazekage, her lord, her leader, in a way she could only describe as if she had a crush. Her first crush, to be exact.

* * *

Dinner that night was a carefree one with no tension, and no one spoke of the incident that had happened. All that Umiko would say was that they needed to keep their hawk, Linda (who was named just to have a foreign sounding name to the sisters), well-fed and the balcony sliding doors shut. Masa nodded in agreement with everything she said.

The rest of dinner was spent talking about the extremely disappointing first mission of Masa's.

"We had to set these bugs back into the desert, which was cool and all, but Nagisa was the one who actually got to open the cages and let them out, which pissed me off first of all. All we, well more like I, got to do was carry the freaking cages! Anyway, it sucked even worse 'cause the fag kept wanting to let one out and was being a total freak about, so he picked one up and got stung like the dumbass he is. So, Chiko, who I just kinda call 'kid' now 'cause he really is nice, well he has to heal the fag. Oh yeah, Nagisa keeps telling us we shouldn't be so rude to each other. She doesn't like that the nicknames we made for each other. Considering they're Fag, girl, and bitch. Especially when I'm not the one called 'girl'. But yeah, totally boring and stuff. I wanna kill bad guys. Like, I just wanna leave one day, my last words to the guards will be somethin' like ''kay, I'm gonna go kill some bad dudes now, 'kay thanks bye!' and I'll be, like, a hero and stuff." She talked and talked, giddy with how angry she was.

"Maybe you should train more, or develop your teamwork? Maybe when you guys have a break, bring them here to eat or something. I'd love to meet them. Oh, that reminds me for some odd reason, but guess who came by and had some lunch with me?" It was Umiko's turn to be giddy; she usually didn't have much to contribute to a conversation, much less one with her sister. Her social interactions were a bit… awkward. And unlike stories she loved reading, no one found her to be quite as endearing as the awkward female leads.

Masa thought for a moment, before blurting out some stupid guesses, including the Boogey Man, the Hokage (Masa found that word ridiculously funny), and Izanagi. "You're losing your wit, you know, Masa-chan." Umiko frowned at her sister, earning a silly exaggerated frown in return, along with a strange noise. "It was the Kazekage." Umiko told her, smiling inwardly.

"Did he ask for your hand in marriage yet? I can see your love, why can't he?" Masa joked with her sister, mocking the tone of most of the infatuated female villagers who swooned over him. He wasn't even tall, dark, and handsome like the kind of man Masa wanted.

"No, no, nothing like that." Umiko laughed, taking a bite of her mochi; she had opted to not eat dinner again, and only had 3 mochi. "He and his sister Temari actually came. Temari is frequent here, I've noticed, but that's only when she's actually in the village. She spends a lot of her time as an ambassador to Suna. I bet she's got a beau there or something." She gossiped with her sister, who looked up to Temari.

* * *

**A/N: Another exciting chapter. Yeah, not really. I'm trying to make the romance gradual and not like most other stories where Gaara seems to instantly fall in love. It kinda pisses me off. Then again, no one wants to read a story that takes months to get to the first kiss. So either time will be skipped, or Gaara will be easier to fall in love with. Or a compromise of both. I still don't know. Maybe I'll go check out some tropes that I'd like to incorporate to make it a better story. Any suggestions would be nice. Next chapter has blood in it. And ninjas. Ninja blood.**


	5. Osmophobia

**AN: Thank you for all the responses and reviews, it makes me so happy to see your thoughts!**

* * *

Life was beginning to return to normal finally. Umiko's arm did not even ache anymore, and the cast could come off today. Her ankle was feeling better as was her calf, and yet she was still not satisfied.

Umiko stood in front of her vanity, scrutinizing herself, just like every other morning at 5:10 am. This would continue until 5:25 am, like always. Hands rested flat on the desk, inner thoughts going crazy, and eyes glancing to the left every twenty seconds; no more, no less. Umiko did not know why she had to maintain this strict regimen each day, compulsed to make these nervous movements, her tics taking over her own thoughts. Today, she was thinking about Hitodeka. 'Why can she not see if I go to therapy, they'll deem me unfit to take care about you? Do you not understand the lies I tell you about our homeland?'

The 45th time Umiko glanced to the left, she got up. It was already 5:25 am, and that meant going to wake up her little sister and beginning breakfast and making lunch. Umiko lingered in her little sister's doorway a bit too long for her liking before going to shake her awake. "Come on, Hitodeka. Ninjas should be able to get up on their own." Her voice was distant and thin, monotone. Hitodeka groaned and sat up, rubbing her eyes. It looked like there would be no fuss today. "What do you want for breakfast?" Umiko's question was just met with a grumble as Hitodeka got up to go shower.

By the time Hitodeka got out and had gotten dressed, Umiko had made a large breakfast and Hitodeka snickered. "It's done, I'm just making your lunch right now."

Umiko didn't even look up to tell her sister that, and Hitodeka just drifted over the table and sat down. She ate a few bites before sighing.

"Is something wrong?"

Hitodeka pulled her knees up to sit cross-legged, shaking her head. "You're so… unhealthy. I mean, look at all this food!" Her voice was getting louder with each word. Umiko stopped what she was doing, her head still down and her coral hair obscuring her view. She could tell how dry and stringy it was, opting to focus on that rather than her sister.

"You're going to eat of all this after I leave, and then you're going to go to the doctors and come back for a big lunch, then have a big dinner… it's embarrassing, Umiko! It's even more so because you just don't care! You're too focused on your silly little fears to care." Her voice faltered at the end and she got up, red-faced, slamming the front door on her way out.

Umiko stood there in the same manner for exactly 675 seconds, trembling before she walked over to a chair at the table and sat herself. She looked at the food on the table for a few seconds before binging on it all.

* * *

As Umiko drudged to the hospital to get her cast off, her mind went blank. She had never acted like that as a teen, but she mostly stayed inside and had no one to rebel against. She tried to rationalize what was going on but she had made no progress by the time she reached the hospital and went to the corresponding injuries department.

The wait was agonizing. The smell of the hospital made her sick and she constantly worried of all the possibilities that could happen- someone with decaying flesh due to necrotizing fasciitis could come in, or a baby that was colic… she stopped there, getting up to reorganize the office to the disdain of the receptionist. She was putting the magazines in stacks of largest to smallest based on content when she was called back.

Umiko was a nervous wreck as she meandered down the hallway; her stomach felt extremely upset and she could hear bone saws in the passing rooms. The nurse led her to a room to get weighed and have her height checked, then her high blood pressure was marked and commented on…. this was one of the many reasons she hated hospitals. Umiko never did understand Munchaunsen's patients and why they enjoyed medical attention. Then again, she didn't understand herself, so it was a moot thought.

When she entered the actual room she hopped up on the table and stared at the door. Everything was white and was driving her insane. She could handle the hallway, her claustrophobia was getting a bit better. The small room was at least open and had no doors, so it did not bother her cleisiophobia as much as it could have. But now, she was locked in this tiny, white room with posters of the human skeleton, detailed tendons, all the types of fractures… she jumped off the table and everything she ate that morning quickly came back up and splashed in the sink.

The overwhelming smell made more and more come out, this vicious cycle of osmophobia causing her to vomit only to have it clear, for nothing was left, and that vomit kept making her sick. Her arms were spasming at her side, her fingers following a distinct rhythm in their twitching movements, her eyes blinking wide open three times before being rolled five times. She had to move her arm a certain way by abducting it, her palms facing inward as she fell to the ground in a heap of vomit and an overload of OCD tics.

By the time the doctor walked casually into the room, it looked as if Umiko's tics and spasms were actually seizures; this conclusion was also reached by the copious amounts of vomit on the floor. After the doctor dropped his clipboard, he called for a nurse and went to the drawers on one side of the room to get out a benzodiazepine vial, but when he failed to find one he reached for the topiramate and quickly filled a syringe and stuck the anticonvulsant into Umiko's neck.

As he and the nurse held her down, her spasms and tics quickly ceased. The doctor opened her mouth to check for airway obstructions such as her tongue, but nothing was blocking and Umiko's breathing was normal.

As Umiko opened her eyes, she coughed a bit and groaned. The nurse and the doctor helped her up, taking her to a clean examination room. The nurse asked if she should get the EEG machine, but the doctor shook his head as Umiko helped herself get up on the table. There was clearly no damage.

"I'm so sorry doctor, that's never happened to me before…" Umiko said, her breath making her feel ill. "I had a large breakfast and I guess it and my body didn't agree or something…" her voice was still so distant and quiet; her shame was hidden by her hair falling in front of her face as she looked down. "Have you ever had a seizure before, Miss Toiniji?"

A confused look spread its way across Umiko's face. As she raised her head, she shook it. "I didn't have a seizure. I'd just really like to get this cast off my arm."

* * *

When the cast came off, Umiko did not expect that horrid smell.

When she smelled it, the doctor did not expect to be vomited on.

When the doctor was vomited on, thus triggering Umiko's osmophobia yet again, Umiko did not expect more topiramate.

* * *

As Umiko left, she ripped up the referral to a psychiatrist she was given. She was just having a bad day, it wasn't as if she had had a psychotic break.

Umiko walked home, deciding not to open shop; it was already past noon so it would not make sense to clean up for a few hours only to be open for a few hours, having to clean up again. She walked inside and just stood there. She smoothed out her dress, her hands lingering around her belly for a little while longer than she intended. She went upstairs and brushed her teeth two times, put on a clean dress and her yellow apron, tied the dress's ribbon in the front, and started on chores.

Umiko was part way through laundry when she heard the door downstairs open. She did not hear any quick, light steps on the stairs and so she stopped what she was doing to go downstairs. "We're not open today, sorry…" she stopped as she saw who was standing there.

"Are you Umiko?" the boy asked; his patois was more like Hitodeka's even though both she and Umiko came from a sophisticated (vernacular wise) village. Umiko came down the rest of the stairs, stopping on the last one, her hands folded in front of her. If she was Hitodeka, her legs would be spread apart on two different steps and one of her arms would be on the hand railing, a hand on the volute. The thought made Umiko a bit more upset than it should have.

"'Kay, 'cuz bitc-Masa said you were like, kinda really fat, but you kinda really aren't, I mean, so yeah… is she here right naow, anyways? 'Cuz we were all on a mission and she got totally angry and she just like, ran off and shit. So, did she come here?" the boy asked, swishing his black hair.

"Um, no, um, what's your name…?"

"Oh, yeah, it's Jasuchin. Jasuchin Biiba. I'm on Masa's ninja team, y'know, team of ninjas… stick together… or some shit. I don't know." Umiko nodded, everything coming full circle in her mind.

She was incredibly tired and groggy and didn't want to deal with this. "Well, did you check the alcoves in the eastern and northern parts of the village? If you can't find her there, come back, okay? Why'd she get angry and leave in the first place?"

"Well, haha, you see," he bit his lip, "we saw the Kazekage and shit. And she was all like, 'oh, god I'd let him fuck me any day'," he did his best impression of a snotty preteenaged brat which was not very good, "an' so I told 'er that if he was inta lolitas, he'd have gotten a child bride already. Then I said he's probably a chubby chaser or some shit, and she got like really pissy and ran off. Whatta hoe. Well I'm gonna go find her. 'Cuz y'now, I'll get chewed out if I don't." As he left, Umiko jumped as he slammed the door. Must be a staple of wangsty preteens.

She could have sworn she heard him say something else as he left, but she couldn't remember; her head hurt immensely and she went upstairs to continue chores.

* * *

She went downstairs to start cleaning the floors, although it was not as intense as other days. Still meticulous, though.

There was a knock on her door, and it made Umiko stop what she was doing. She had no idea what time it was, and judging by how soft the knock was, she got up to open the door, expecting Hitodeka.

The tall man she was met with was unexpected, but he quickly pushed her to the ground. He took her by her hair, dragging a weak and tired Umiko across the floor into the kitchen she had just cleaned. Violently she was pulled up and thrown against the ground, blood from her nose dripping onto her floor.

"Toiniji scum, I'm here to deliver a message from Lord Tonozuki. The moment your stupid pet hawk enters our territory again, the moment you or your little sister cunts enter our territory, we will not hesitate to kill you." The man gave one last kick to the back of Umiko and her head, and marched off.

When Hitodeka returned that night, she went straight to her room.

* * *

**AN: Not too much to say about this chapter, either. Any comments, suggestions, or lyrics detailing my endeavor to write a decent fanfiction are most welcome and appreciated. I apologize for the delay as well- my laptop stopped working around May 25****th****, and well, long story short, I received it back all fixed today (July 24****th****) so again, I apologize, and hope you can review or favorite.**


	6. Helminthophobia

Truth is held in the statement that if you do something one day that you will regret the next morning, sleep late. When Hitodeka awoke, it was a little bit past noon; at first she thought it was still twelve in the _morning_, but the intense sunlight filtering in through the window did not support that.

Groggily getting up, Hitodeka took a moment to let realization set in… she got home at around 3 am, today she was supposed to meet her team for a mission at 9 am, and right now it was more than three hours past that. More than three hours meant grounds for a variety of things, none too very lovely to think about.

She hadn't even changed out of the clothes she wore yesterday.

Hitodeka ran out of her room, screaming her sister's name. "Umiko! Where are you?!" her banshee-like screeches of the name being heard throughout the house. The first place she looked was the upstairs kitchen, then Umiko's bedroom, then her bathroom, then Hitodeka's own bathroom, and then she ran downstairs. She was fuming and screaming.

She marched into the kitchen, her blood boiling underneath her skin. "Umiko! What the fuck?! It's 12:25 and here you are, fucking cleaning! What's wrong with you?!" She continued to scream, and rushed to her sister, about to do something… what that was, she didn't know, but she was livid.

"Umiko!" She spat at her sister, Hitodeka towering over the form of her sister on the floor. She let out a long and angry sigh, and went around her sister to kick her onto her back; Hitodeka stared down at the bloody mess of her sister.

Blood was dried in a long line from her nose down the side of her face, as was a line from a split lip. There were lesions on her forehead and Umiko was agonal gasping, and it looked like her arm had been twisted.

The wave of nausea and pure disgust that washed over her was overwhelming; she could taste the bile coming up from her stomach. Rushing down the stairs and yelling made her feel sick enough, but this was too much. The seconds between seeing her sister and the small amount of contents escaping her stomach and mouth were few, but felt like a lifetime. Hitodeka fell to her knees, not caring that her knees and hands now rested in a pile of her own vomit. She coughed up the remains of whatever else felt like leaving her body.

Tears burned in her eyes; she had no idea what to do. The smell of the blood was intense on her, making her even more nauseous. As her eyes finally met with the bloodshot slits of a now awake Umiko, Hitodeka would have screamed had her throat not been burning.

Her sister lay in a mess on the floor, eyes fluttering open in an unflattering way, and she looked like the waking dead. Her eyes were a mixture of red and yellow, offsetting the purple of her irises quite nicely in a disturbing fashion. "Umiko," the name was uttered so dryly and heavily; Hitodeka didn't even realize she had said it until Umiko made a strange guttural gasp in response.

She sounded like she was dying.

Then again, she probably was.

The next hour of Hitodeka's life was a blur; she picked up her sister, who simply responded by being dead weight that spit up blood now and then. The trek to the hospital was hell. All the passing villagers simply gaped, and Hitodeka snarled at a few. No one offered help, and that just added to the stress.

Blood was boiling by the time she arrived at the hospital; almost no nurses were at the triage. She must have screamed for at least ten minutes before a volunteer came to help them. The candy striper called for two doctors and a nurse who came a bit later with a gurney and Hitodeka watched as her sister was wheeled off, trying to understand what the hell just happened.

* * *

The stay in the hospital was long and intense on Umiko; ultimately, she did not require any surgery and she was thankful. The two weeks it took her to recuperate pained her. It pained her to see Hitodeka so depressed, it pained her that she could not get out of her bed to do anything, it pained her she did not know what to do, and it pained her that all of this was because she let Hitodeka send off Linda to their parent's village. The letter she received upset her so much that she burned it.

All of the hospital staff were busy with treating many incoming patients- most were on the verge on death when they came in, and while any other time Umiko would be considered critical, she was not at this point. She had overheard from gossip that some criminal was stalking around the village and its borders and was striking people, going undetected. It was scary, but Umiko could not process the fear she otherwise would have. Apparently, the criminal took on the form of a little girl- the few people who lived through the attacks long enough to say they all last remember a little girl in all white, just to die of the venom circulating in their veins that the doctors could not treat.

She still felt unwell after those two weeks, but the hospital deemed her well enough to just go home and not do anything laboring; they really needed the space and resources she was occupying, albeit how little those things were. The morning of her release she studied her naked form in the mirror next to her bed. There were bruises of all sorts of colors and varying sizes in the places she was met bluntly with the floor, an object, or a foot and fist. She was thankful she had no internal bleeding and received no surgery; she knew surgical conditions were clean, but not clean enough for her.

As the nurse walked in with a wheelchair, she got dressed and collected the few things she had.

* * *

The silence between her and Hitodeka was a bit strained, and Umiko was dully surprised by how nice and clean Hitodeka had made the shop in Umiko's absence.

'It's nice she can actually put forth an effort, even if it was only because I almost died.' Umiko felt sick after thinking that, 'I shouldn't be so bitter.'

She almost apologized to Hitodeka before she realized nothing had actually been said.

* * *

That night, the two sisters sat at the dinner table and stared at their food. Neither felt like eating, although Umiko had eaten some of her rice. She hates curry, but Hitodeka loves it and it's one of the few things she knows how to make, so Umiko just smiles and lies and says she likes it.

Not tonight.

The faraway look in Umiko's eyes was a bit haunting to her sister. There were dark circles underneath her eyes, and Hitodeka soon remembered she had the same ones under her own eyes. They both looked sick and depraved; Hitodeka noticed Umiko had lost a fair amount of weight while in the hospital. She wasn't so sure if that would stay, though.

"Hitodeka. We need to talk about something." Umiko's almost lifeless voice coughed out something that got Hitodeka's attention; she looked up at her sister. She didn't know if she was going to be goaded and chided, or subject to the pent up rage of her sister.

There was hesitation in Umiko's voice, eyes, and body as she looked down before her line of sight finally reached Hitodeka's again. "I burned the letter our parents sent us."

Hitodeka just stared at her sister, a bit confused. "…okay?"

"No, you don't understand Hitodeka!" Her voice was so loud it shocked her a bit and she jumped before she settled into her seat again.

Hitodeka simply gave her a sister a look that asked for more to be said.

More hesitation.

"That was the only letter they've ever sent, Hitodeka." Her eyes burst with tears at this point; her head lay in her hands. She was falling apart in an instant, and felt disgusted with herself. For the first time in her life, her surroundings didn't matter. For the first time, it wouldn't have mattered if she was in a sterile white padded room or in a landfill. She was trembling and couldn't face her sister.

Hitodeka shook her head a bit, lip puffed out. She didn't understand what was being said, or why Umiko was acting like this. "Seriously, just tell me the full story. I don't need this cryptic bullshit. You don't need this cryptic shit." Her foul mouth didn't even bother Umiko.

She took in a long shaky sigh, as if she had just finished crying. "Hitodeka, I've never once sent out a letter to our parents. I have never one gotten a letter from them, except for the one that was responding to the one you sent out. You just don't understand!"

She looked full of grief she buried her face in her hands, and breathed out a heavy sigh before looking back up. "Our home village is not what you think it is. There was never a war that ravaged it, there was a revolt against our parents for their ruling. We were banished. You just… you just never needed to know." Her voice cracked near the end, changing her voice into a dry pleading tone.

Both of the sister's heads were down, with tears streaming down Umiko's face. "And the letter we did get from them?" Her bitter and angry tone biting back a choking sob, "They were irate. They were disappointed in me. They told me how uninterested in us they were, they didn't understand why the letter was worded so friendly, as if there was some history of communication with them. They told me to never contact them again, and that the necessary precautions will be taken to insure that. Hitodeka, you have no idea how badly you have… how badly you… how badly you fucked up things for me!" Umiko erupted into a sob at this point; her last sentence was practically screamed at her sister.

The scream visibly shook her sister. Hitodeka looked up, her large eyes not brimming with a single tear. Being a ninja meant no strong emotions like that- she wondered how much this event would harden her. As she stared at her sister, she just thought how much more composure she had over her; sometimes that was good, sometimes it was not.

To her, this was one of the few times where when her sister was an emotional wreck, she could accept it. For the first time in a long time, she didn't feel the need to scream at her sister.

She silently stood up, and walked over to Umiko, hugging her.

* * *

All in all, the experience was draining for both sisters. Both slept, and Umiko even kept up her nightly and morning routine. The next morning, she woke Hitodeka, and their breakfast was small and quiet. Neither quite felt hungry, but they still ate as to not worry the other one. There was a level of caring they had for each other that simply couldn't be understood except for others in the same situation.

Then, the question Umiko had been expecting for the past two weeks came.

"Umiko… Are you going to tell me what happened?" Her voice was a bit distant, but it was starting to go back to its normal intonation. After barely speaking since the day she found her sister in a bloody mess on the kitchen floor, her voice was not quite ready to speak yet.

Umiko looked down, swallowing hard. "Listen to me, Hitodeka, please. Whatever I say, you take with reason. It stays between us, and you promise not to do anything rash, please." Her voice was coming back quite nicely.

The eye contact Umiko rarely gave her sister was not faltering, and Hitodeka nodded. "Of course." Neither truly knew whether they could trust the other. Hitodeka had a very strong sense of "justice", you could put it.

Umiko closed her eyes, nodding in assent. She took a moment to collect her thoughts, and met eye contact with her sister again. "Lord Tonozuki, the lord of the land that our home village rests on, was not pleased about our messenger hawk. He sent someone to simply reinforce what the letter we got back said, to stay out of his territory. He owns all the land on the border of the River Country and the coast extending south of that." Her eyes fluttered down as she decided against continuing further.

Hitodeka arrived at the academy grounds to meet with her team- Jasuchin and Chi met with her to walk with her from her house. She normally would have laughed and spoken with them about how they looked like a ragtag team of misfits (a coral-haired, purple eyed tanned girl with the personifications of Heaven and Hell themselves? She wondered if it was intentional.) But today, she simply kept quiet. Chi pushed some of his long hair blonde hair out from his very bright eyes; on a normal day, both his teammates would yell at him to cut his hair already. This of course did not happen. Jasuchin was normally loudmouthed and bragging about his collection of weird pets at his home- he recently got a special breed of earthworms that bred fairly quickly. He would comment that he didn't know what to do with so many- he wouldn't be surprised if his house was overrun by the time he got home! And yet, nothing was said.

Nagisa, their leader, was talking with Kankuro. They ceased when the genin arrived and both took on even more stoic faces. "Masa, Jasuchin, Chi, I'm glad you're here early. There is an emergency meeting that every ninja must attend. We're going to the spectator grounds, our Lord Kazekage has an urgent speech." Nagisa spoke a bit too rushed; she was normally refined in her speech, but her team followed her and Kankuro to said spectator grounds.

Hitodeka was in awe of the amount of ninjas the village had currently- the spectator grounds were meant to allow spars to be viewed by large amounts of people, such as during the chunin exams when the stadium is set up with actual spectator seating. She heard a throat being cleared and she craned her neck to see the tuft of red hair that belonged to the Kazekage. Hitodeka had no idea what this was about, and everybody immediately went silent and their attention was on Gaara.

If he was nervous, it did not show- Gaara was, at this point in his career, used to speeches like this. It was actually easier to speak to ninjas because they understood better than the civilian public for the most part.

"Thank you all for coming today. As everybody is aware, there is a rogue S-ranked criminal on our borders who is closing in on our village. The hospital is overrun with their victims. We are requesting help from Konoha, but we do not know the status of their agreement on sending any reinforcements as of yet. The criminal is said to take on the form of a young girl, age twelve or thirteen. We will be closing our borders tonight, and more precautions may be implemented as necessary. There will be no more missions leaving the village that are not A-rank or S-rank until this is resolved. Thank you." Some leaders gave long winded speeches, but Gaara was not one of them. He spoke clearly and when he stepped off the platform, he took his leave- he needed to prepare for a mission himself.

* * *

As the grounds were being vacated, Nagisa took her team to a classroom to have a discussion- they rarely had a civil discussion, but given the seriousness everyone had taken on, she found it a good time to do so.

She stared hard-eyed at her students before her. In just the past few months she had them, they had grown considerably. She sighed and shook her head, quickly regaining her composure. "Masa, I'm glad you are back. I'm sure your sister is as well. Jasuchin, I am proud of you for being silent and not a menace these past few weeks, " she smirked at the heatedness Jasuchin took on, but decided not to explode in a tirade, "and Chi, I am glad you have helped keep us all together and I'm sure your volunteering at the hospital has benefitted others greatly." Nagisa looked on at her students, proud.

"Basically, what I want to say is that I feel you all are improving greatly. Your scores in our physical examinations and tests, and even the more mental and knowledge based ones, have been exceedingly good and above the rest of the teams. I am considering offering you guys up to the chunin exams, because I feel that by the time they are being held next, you all will be ready for them!" She beamed at her students, the look of determination that paid off and pure bliss evident on her face.

It quickly faded.

Her students looked on in almost disinterest. Hitodeka looked completely detached. Jasuchin was a bit taken aback. Chi looked nervous and almost _scared. _It was shocking, to say the least. She clasped her hand over her mouth, and pulled it down after mulling over what to say.

"Okay. Listen, I know that considering the recent past events, this criminal, and simply being your age, not everything is exactly good or anything like that. But I will tell you that if you can get through it, as a team, it will make you stronger and by the time that you are all in the chunin exams, you all will be so much stronger than the other teams. So please, try to work through it. I know it's tough, but you are all ninja now. I will see you all tomorrow at noon, we will still train even if we are not getting any out of village missions." She looked down and shuffled her feet a bit, unsure of what to do now. Quietly, she left, leaving the door open.

Jasuchin and Chi stared at each other briefly before turning to Hitodeka. "Masa-chan, how is your sister? Is the shop open today?" Chi asked politely, looking down at the floor. He had gotten used to talking to her now, but his light blue jacket felt incredibly hot right now none the less. He almost twirled the little ponytail he keeps on his shoulder, but decided against it- his girlfriend had convinced him to stop doing it.

Hitodeka looked over, depth returning to her eyes. She turned to face him, a bit dazed- she hadn't been paying any attention for the past few minutes. She hadn't even listened to what the Kazekage had said. "Eh, I think so. I didn't ask Umiko, but she was eager to open soon. We can still go, I can cook or something, I guess."

* * *

As it turned out, Umiko was upstairs napping when the team arrived at the shop. Hitodeka just shrugged, and Chi almost burst into a fit of giggles. "You know what I've always wanted to do with you guys?! Masa-chan, Jasuchin, we should all bake a cake made with all our love!~"

Hitodeka burst out laughing for the first time in too long, and it felt good. Even Jasuchin laughed, making fun of Chi.

During the making of said cake, which they named the Noodle Cake for future storytelling, Chi sang a song for baking and was promptly asked to shut up, and there was a lot of awkward moments when Hitodeka licked the whisk or when Jasuchin licked something off Hitodeka's fingers without her permission.

Of course, much fun was had in decorating the cake and Hitodeka started to feel happy again. While her teammates were cutting the cake, she decided to head upstairs to check on Umiko. She woke her, and asked if she was okay- Umiko just nodded loosely and went back to sleep.

That was a good sign, right? Hitodeka just smiled and rejoined her teammates downstairs.

* * *

After much talking, Chi left- it was time for dinner already. Jasuchin asked to stay behind to help clean, and Hitodeka made sure they did it properly so as to not upset Umiko.

Hitodeka was hunched over the sink, the chemical fumes getting a bit to her head. She remembered the times when Umiko was always so desperate when asking her how she smelled- she was so scared of people thinking she smelled bad or horrible. Sometimes she'd even close shop and stay in her room all day, just showering, bathing, or washing herself down with wash cloths. It was a bit embarrassing, to be honest.

She shrieked when she felt something behind her, touching her hips. She turned around and was met with the unnecessary belts and buckles and zippers on the jacket Jasuchin wore- he was hugging her, she realized. His chin plopped itself down on top of her head, and she pushed him off a bit. "What are you doing?" She looked genuinely confused.

"Hugging you. Obviously."

"Yes, obviously. Why?!"

"You looked like you needed one."

His shrugging eased Hitodeka, and she just shook her head. "Okay, thank you. I guess I did. So what now?"

"We can always make out."

Her face immediately met with her palm.

"No, not that. I meant, is there anything left to clean? I guess you can go home if there isn't." She was a bit irritated now.

"I don't wanna go home, yet. You know my parents and I don't see eye to eye and stuff… wait, can I crash here tonight?"

Yet again, her palm met her face and she groaned.

"Absolutely not. I have something I need to get ready for, and I'm leaving tonight. So, no." She nodded to herself a bit; she was unsure of what exactly she would be doing. It was rash, unreasonable, and so many other things: it was also necessary.

"Listen, I really do not want to go home, just please let me sleep on your floor at least?" He was pleading and it upset Hitodeka a bit.

"Fine, fine, I need to pack though. Just… stay in my room, I guess." She really just needed him somewhere and she did not have the time or energy to argue. He and Chi have both slept on her floor before without incident, so she decided it would be okay.

* * *

As she packed her bag, she could hear Umiko getting up and showering. It meant she had little time left. She stuffed the rest of her equipment in her bag as Jasuchin watched on, eating some yogurt stars.

"Where you goin'?" He asked through munching

"Out. I have some business to attend to now. That's all I'm gonna say. Now listen to me, and listen good, because if you get caught my sister will be angry. If she comes in here, you get your ass out of here and to your house. She'll probably think I'm there anyway, and I'm sorry you will have to deal with your parents. I don't care. I'm sorry." She looked at him before walking over and giving an awkward peck on the cheek. She opened her window and jumped out.

* * *

Jasuchin gathered his belongings after a few moments, and walked outside to the hallway. Umiko was in her usual light yellow dress and sandals, yet sans apron, downing some pills. She almost choked when she saw Jasuchin. "Oh, hey there, Jasuchun. I'm glad you're here, did you cheer up Masa?" She almost spilled some water, some of it drooling down- she quickly wiped it off.

"Oh, uh, yeah. It's Jasuchin, by the way. Not, uh, Jasuchun. That's kinda gay. Um, yeah, I'm gonna head home now, I'm actually gonna meet Masa-chan there." He fumbled over his words before quickly descending down the stairs and out the door by the time Umiko got out of her seat.

"Wait, what?" She yelled; she needed her sister around she knew it! She went downstairs and spent a moment dusting off a few things and sanitizing them before leaving and following Jasuchin.

At this time of night, there were not many people out and it was exceptionally cold. No cloud cover sucked. She almost fell a few times, being light headed and achy. She was tired and definitely not in shape for heading towards the part of the village near the border.

She found herself at the Biiba house, lights out and everything. She knew Jasuchin was there by now, along with her sister. She knocked on the door, coughing a bit.

It sounded as if somebody was up against the door; she knew it was her sister trying to make it seem like the house was empty.

"I know you're in there, Hitodeka!" She kept pounding, louder and louder. She turned around, a bit freaked out by all the guards surrounding her. She then realized it was time for the border guards to change shifts, so they must have seen her. Not all of them needed to be there, though.

"Can we help you, Miss?" Their tones freaked her out a bit, and she gulped- she didn't know what to say or do.

"Uh, no, you cannot. I uh, am just here to see my sister. That's all." She gave a nervous laugh and turned the door handle, facing forward and walking forward a bit.

The torrent of earth worms that were inhumanly large that rained down upon her quickly engulfed her and she had no time to react- the entire house was flooded with them.

The guards were freaking out, as Umiko's screams became louder and louder and she found herself crying in a mess on the ground like she has been so many times in her life.

The guards were so preoccupied with the illegally obtained worms that were quickly infesting the young woman in front of them that none of them noticed the figure climbing to the top of the wall and leaping over to the other side.

Hitodeka entered the desert, and continued on her way. Her long trek across the desert to her home village was just beginning.

* * *

**Again, thank you for your wonderful comments! Comments, suggestions, and anything else are welcome and appreciated. Also, I understand this story is focusing hard on my OC's… well, the Sand Siblings become a much bigger part starting soon, so prepare yourself! …or not.**

**Thank you for reading!**


End file.
